Useful information

Ranking Criteria

“Ranking” means the relative prominence of the offers displayed on our website or the relevance given to search results as presented, organised or communicated to customers. The aim is to provide our customers first the highest/best quality offer with well balanced pricing options. As our business model allows the customers to search and book for thousands of destinations across the world, we need a solution to maximise the opportunity for our customers to find and book the best solution in every destination. This is permitted by an automatic and dynamic ranking default solution.

Accommodation Ranking

After you have entered your destination and travel dates, we will show you a page with all available offers. To help you to find our best accommodation, we have classified them according to a 'Recommended' criteria.

To define what is the Recommended offer we use an algorithm which considers the following parameters:

1) the rates offered by the accommodation (compared to the rates of the other accommodation available for the same destination);

2) the accommodation type (we balance the offers of the main hotel chains with other alternative stay's solutions such as B&Bs, guests house, apartments, villa aparthotels or campsite);

3) the accommodation’s guest rating (calculated on the basis of the number of guests’ reviews collected and verified by third-party providers);

4) and the accommodation’s popularity (measured in % of clicks and bookings).

We may also use additional parameters such as the distance of the accommodation from the city-centre and the number of stars of the accommodation, which we deem less relevant and therefore attributes a lower rating compared to the previous parameters. We believe that all the above parameters - combined together through the internal algorithm - can prioritise the most relevant accommodation results for the customers.

You can always change how the offers are displayed by choosing the other filters provided on the top of the page such as, for example, price, type of hotel or reviews from other customers.

Flight Ranking

By default, we show you the “Best" offer for each research, with the best available flights ranked as follows.

Our "Best" flights are determined by duration and price. So the cheapest flights that have the fastest journey time are considered the "best" flights. Should two results ever be the same price, we'll show you the flight with the shortest duration first.

In certain research, we mark as "Sponsored" a flight option where we have received a paid advertisement. The specific ranking of the sponsored offer in the page may not consider the above parameters as a display criteria in ascending order of price.

You can always change how the offers are displayed by choosing the other filters provided on the top of the page such as the “cheapest” flight or the “fastest” flight.

In addition, you can modify by yourself the results shown using the other filters available on the left-hand side of the result page, e.g. by selecting the departure and arrival time range, a specific airline (or airlines), and the price range.

Where a dedicated 'Flight Outlets' page is available, please note that the offers shown are selected by destination and departure city and are based on the statistical results of the most popular searches made on our Website on the date of publication. Furthermore, the offers are ranked solely by price, from cheapest to most expensive, without taking any other parameters into account.

Dynamic Packages’ Ranking

By default, we show you the “Recommended" offer for each research, with the best available solutions ranked as follows.

To rank the results, the first criteria we take into account concerns the accommodation that is part of the dynamic package and we use the parameters indicated above in the paragraph dedicated to the accommodation ranking (such as rates, accommodation category, guest rating,popularity, distance from the city-centre and number of stars of the hotel).

Once the accommodations have been ranked, we propose and add the most convenient flights - and/or where available, the most convenient trains - for the selected route by taking in considerations different parameters (as flight price, flight duration, departure time and same departure /return airport) in order to provide you with the best possible solution.

You can always change how the offers are displayed by changing the filters provided on the top of the page such as the “price”, the “top rated” and/or the “distance from” a point of interest, as well as you can always choose another flight if more suitable for you.

In addition, you can modify by yourself the results shown using the other filters available on the left-hand side of the result page, e.g. by selecting the accommodation type (for example hotel, apartment, Bed & Breakfast), your budget, guest rating and facilities.

“Séjour” Ranking

Under this term we refer to a service composed by a third party Tour Operator with a duration of more than 24 hours or including an overnight stay, sold or offered at an all-inclusive price.

Once you have selected the destination and city of departure, the departure date and the duration of your trip, by default, we show you the more interesting offer for each research, with the best available solutions ranked on the basis of the following parameters:

exclusive offers/prices communicated by the Tour Operator

Top des ventes: we take into account how much a specific offer has been sold on our website so far, showing you first the offers most purchased by our customers

You can always change how the offers are displayed by choosing the other filters provided on the top of the page such as hotel category (number of stars), top de ventes or the cheapest price.

In addition, you can modify by yourself the results shown using the other filters available on on the left-hand side of the page such as, for example, the type of treatment (breakfast only, half board, etc.) the minimum or maximum price, the Thématique (e.g. if there are services offered such as a miniclub, wellness area, excursions or other services included such as car rental or if it is an adult only solution) and/or the type of club you prefer.

“Pauschalreisen” Ranking

Through the "Pauschal" tab available on the homepage of our German websites weg.de, lastminute.de and on websites provided by our partner with which we have a white label partnership in place, you can compare and book offers provided by various Tour Operators offering their own package tours.

We remind you that lastminute.com is only acting as an intermediary and the tour package purchase contract is concluded directly with the Tour Operator you have chosen for your trip.

The general terms and conditions of purchase will be shown to you before you book your trip.

Once you have selected the destination, the departure and return dates, the departure airport, the number of people travelling and launched the search, by default, we show you the offer based on “Popularity” criteria for each research, with the best available solutions ranked on the basis of the following parameters:

• price;
• hotel category (a self evaluation made by the accommodation and reflects the accommodation's price-quality ratio, comforts and services offered in line with hotel industry standards);
• services offered by the accommodation;
• recommendation rate provided by our selected partner (based on verified reviews from previous travellers who have already enjoyed the services included in the offer).

You can always change how the offers are displayed by choosing the other filters provided on the top of the page such as hotel category, recommendation rate or the cheapest price.

In addition, you can modify by yourself the results shown using the other filters available on the right-hand side of the page such as, for example, the change and cancellation policies applied by the Tour Operator, the services offered in loco, the type of treatment (breakfast only, half board, etc.) and the type of room (standard, deluxe, etc.), the hotel's rating and the Tour Operator with which you wish to book.

Cruise ranking

Where the dedicated section “Cruise” is available on our website, you will be able to search and book your preferred Cruises. You will be free to enter several parameters to find the most convenient solution for you.

In particular, you can decide whether you want to enter the destination, the duration of the cruise, the period in which you want to travel, the port of departure, the number of people travelling on the cruise, and the cruise line, or you will be free to be inspired by our recommendations, not choosing any parameters and let us help you find the best solution.

The offers shown in the result page are ranked in ascending order of “Popularity”.

To define what is the “Popularity” order, especially if no other parameters were entered by you in the initial search step, we consider the best quality price ratio among the following factors:

1. Destination
2. Duration
3. If the flight is included;
4. Departure port
5. Ship/Cruise line
6. Departure month

You can always change how the offers are displayed by choosing the other filters provided on the top of the page such as, the cheapest price, duration of the cruise trip or rating (based on verified reviews from previous travelers).

In addition, you can modify by yourself the results shown using the other filters available on the right-hand side of the page such as, for example, the range price, the departure date, the destination, departure port, duration of the cruise trip, cruise line, ship or services included.

How do we set prices?

This section intends to explain how we set the prices of all the services and products offered on our website, so you can better understand the different components of those prices, differentiated by product/service offered.

Flight prices

Flight prices are shown on our website per person and per journey (depending on the choice made by the customer, i.e. return or one-way) and include our agency fees (which are the remuneration for our intermediation services), as well as the VAT according to the applicable legislations (hereinafter collectively referred to as the “flight cost”).

Please note that our price differentiation does not involve personalisation based on automated decision-making processes.

Special labels or sections

When a Flight listed in the results page is labelled as “Special Offer” or “Stravoli”, it means that the fare has been negotiated directly by us with our partners (e.g. tour operators and travel agencies) who sell the flight and apply different conditions than the airlines’ policies.

Where available, the section “Outlet Voli/Stravoli Outlet” or “Outlet vuelos” shows flight offers which have a discounted fare compared to the average flight price for the same route applied during the previous year in the same period, or during the past months of the current year. The Price shown in the offer is applied by the airlines for the routes and the travel dates indicated. The flight offers shown in the above section are divided by city of destination and departure and they are based on our users’ most searched routes on the date of publication of the flight offer. Furthermore, these flight offers are classified based only on the flight price, and they are ordered from cheapest to most expensive.

The prices shown includes our agency fees, while they are exclusive of the costs of any ancillary services which can be added by you during the booking process. The flight offers shown in the above section are updated daily, therefore the availability of a specific flight offer and the related price applied on the date of publication cannot be guaranteed continuously over time by us. In case the published flight price is not available anymore, you will be redirected to our standard flight offers available on our website.

Where available, the label “Plus” shown in each flight offer indicates that the price displayed includes the discount applied as a consequence of the Plus subscription program. You can confirm the Plus price going forward in the booking or you can choose to go forward with the Regular price displayed as well in the flight offer. 

Hotel prices

On our websites, after the hotel search made by you, we’ll show you the price of the hotels/accommodations available by displaying by default the cheapest room and board type. The price is related to the number of room e.g. if the customer does a research for four persons and two rooms, we’ll show the total amount inclusive of two rooms and four people). All the available meal-plans, as well as eventual breakfast rates, half board rates or “all inclusive” rates, and “Free cancellation” options are described in each Hotel Accommodation offer. If we do not show any meal-plan in the hotel search result, we are generally offering the “Room only” hotel rate. Please note that, despite what we show in the results page, after selecting the specific hotel offer, you can choose the preferred room and board type in the following hotel detail page, before continuing with the booking process. In the hotel detail page you will see the different prices that apply depending on the room and board type chosen, as well as the hotel cancellation policies in case of free cancellation option included (for example, until what date the booking can be cancelled for free, and what are the cancellation fees applicable by the hotel in case of cancellations requested after the free cancellation due date).

The price displayed by us is inclusive of our agency fees - where applied - and the VAT according to the applicable legislations.  

Please note that the hotel prices do not generally include the local taxes and/or resort fees which are due at the hotel upon arrival. The resort fees and local taxes are mandatory charges imposed by the hotel or local government. They’re not included in the total price we show on our website and must be paid separately at the hotel on customer’s arrival. The tax/fee amount shown is for guidance only, seeing that we convert the amount communicated to us by the provider by using the exchange rate applicable at booking date. Indeed, given that these taxes/fees are paid in the hotel’s local currency, the final amount may vary depending on the exchange rate applicable on the date of arrival. In some cases these taxes/fees are indicated separately in each single hotel search result through a disclaimer shown under the hotel price named “+ XX£/€ due at the hotel” or “+ Taxes” (depending on the local website the customer is navigating). We also show an explanation of these taxes/fees payable at the hotel through a tooltip accessible from the above-mentioned disclaimer inserted right below the hotel price or through a notice included in the footer of the search results page identified by an asterisk. In some cases, we may show on the results page and across the booking flow the total hotel price, inclusive of the above-mentioned taxes/fees due at the hotel upon arrival, but right below each hotel price we show through a tooltip (accessible from a link named “Taxes/fees due later”) the price split including separately the applicable room rate and the amount of taxes/fees payable at the hotel. The same distinction is shown again in the checkout page inside the trip recap widget displayed on the right-hand side of the same webpage, where we specify the amount to be paid at the moment of conclusion of the booking and the taxes/fees payable to the hotel at the time of arrival. 

Furthermore, please note that the hotel prices refer to the available prices at the time of checking and are subject to availability of the hotel provider and they can change at any time.

The prices of the HOTEL booking may be valid exclusively for customers with nationality or legal residence in a country belonging to the European Economic Area (EEA) or the United Kingdom. Please note that, in some cases, the hotel establishment, upon the arrival of the User, may require him to prove his nationality or legal residence in a country belonging to the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom (depending on the hotel establishment’s specific rates for residents or citizens from the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom), and if he does not prove it, the hotel establishment may demand the payment of a supplement or deny him entry to the hotel. Failure to do so may result in the customer having to pay an additional fee, or their booking being cancelled.

We may offer discounted hotel rates for those customers who are logged-in to their Personal Area. These offers are discounted rates which have been agreed with our hotel partners and that are identified on our website with the “my price” label shown at the top of the single hotel search result and of the trip recap (inclusive of the price details) shown on the right-hand side of the checkout page. The striked-through prices shown in the “my price” hotel offers refer to the rates offered by our partners before applying any discounts.

We may also offer to you specific Last Minute deals promotions agreed for a limited period of time with our hotel partners, which include hotel offers of limited duration providing for special conditions or hotel rates carefully selected and directly agreed between us and our hotel partners. These promotional hotel offers can be identified in our results page through the specific “Last Minute deals” label (coloured in pink) inserted at the top of the related hotel’s search result, which also includes the remaining time before the Last Minute deals promotion expires.

We also have a dedicated “Last Minute deals” webpage (accessible from the homepage of our website), where we show the available Last Minute deals hotel deals, with the respective conditions. Please note that in the hotel detail page we also show the validity period of the Last Minute deals promotion and the travel period to be considered in order to be eligible for the discount applied according to the Last Minute deals promotion. You may only take advantage of the Last Minute deals offers in force at the time of your purchase of the hotel on our website. Each Last Minute deals offer will also be subject to availability depending on the travel dates selected by you and the number of bookings you requested. This availability will be indicated to you during the booking process and in any case before the purchase is concluded. Therefore, in the event of a lack of availability of the Last Minute deals offer, you will be redirected to the other hotel offers available on our website.

On our website we may also show special hotel offers - named “Top Secret® Hotels” - which include discounted hotel rates directly provided by our hotel partners. The Top Secret® Hotels offer you the possibility to choose the area of the accommodation location,  while the hotel name and the related images are hidden in the hotel search result, and we will propose to you some discounted solutions which will remain unknown during the booking and the transaction. You will discover the exact hotel name and position only after the booking will be confirmed,, when you’ll receive the confirmation email from us (hence the “Top Secret” nature of these hotel offers).  The discounts applied (minimum 10% of the regular rate, and may be displayed also with a strike-through price) are based on the comparison between the Top Secret® Hotel room rates against the same hotel's room rates including a matching meal plan sold on our website when named “in clear”. The discount guarantee does not apply to the same named hotel’s direct website when time limited offers are being made available.

Regarding our hotel offers, we may also provide to you - where available - a so-called “Price Match Guarantee” service: in particular, if you book a hotel or a city break (Flight + Hotel or Train + Hotel) package travel on our website and then you will find the same hotel or travel package for less on another website within 24 hours of booking, we will refund you the price difference on the same payment method used during the purchase.

Dynamic Package prices

We may offer on our website different types of travel packages (e.g. Flight + Hotel, Train + Hotel, Flight + Car), combined dynamically by us or by another lastminute.com Group’s company on the basis of the elements chosen by you (dates and destinations). The dynamic  packages are sold at an inclusive/total price displayed “per person” and include the VAT according to the applicable legislations.. 

After choosing the destination and the dates of your travel, on our results page, you’ll be able to choose among our accommodation proposals, where the price will be already inclusive of the flight component. We will indicate the cheapest hotel meal-plan per person by specifying the room and board rate, as well as if it includes a “Free cancellation option”. Please note that you can choose another room and board type in the hotel detail page, before continuing with the booking process. In the hotel detail page you will see the different prices that apply depending on the room and board type chosen, as well as the accommodation cancellation policies in case of free cancellation option included (for example, until what date the hotel/accommodation can be cancelled for free). However, please note that if you decide to cancel your booking within the free cancellation date, you won’t be charged for the hotel room, but given that your flights are not included in the free cancellation part of the package travel, you may not be entitled to the refund of the flight price, although the airline may reimburse some costs, if provided for in the airline cancellation policies.

Eventual additional local taxes and resort fees to be paid will be displayed in the hotel detail page, and must be paid separately at the hotel upon arrival. The tax/fee amount shown is for guidance only, seeing that we convert the amount communicated to us by the provider by using the exchange rate applicable at booking date. Indeed, given that these taxes/fees are paid in the hotel’s local currency, the final amount may vary depending on the exchange rate applicable on the date of arrival. After the selection of the package travel offer, we also show a hotel price breakdown in the following detail page through a tooltip inserted right below the price of each room and board type (accessible from a link named “Taxes/fees due later”), where we specify the room rate and the taxes/fees payable at the hotel. 

In the detail page we display the flights we think are more suitable for your trip (price included in the hotel rate displayed). 

Where available, we may show on our search results page - after the package travel search made by you on our website - the price inclusive of our additional service named “Travel Extra Pack”. In these cases we include the mention of this additional service directly in the package travel’s search result, by inserting the wording “Travel Extra Pack incl.” with a tooltip which clearly explains what the total price shown includes: i.e. the package travel’s basic fare, the Travel Extra Pack cost, the Travel Extra Pack discount (applied directly to the booking selected by you) plus a voucher to be used for your next trip. Therefore, the prices of the package travels’ offers comprehensive of the Travel Extra Pack service that we show you in the search results page are already inclusive of the discount granted by such additional service. Please note that, if you prefer, you can choose the package travel’s basic fare (without the Travel Extra Pack service) right before the checkout page in a dedicated web page where we show both the package travel offers.

Please note that the package travels’ offers may also include the discounted hotel rates applied following the Last Minute deals promotions explained above in the Hotels’ prices section. In these cases the package travel’s price will already include the discounted hotel rate. These package travels’ offers can be identified through the specific “Last Minute deals” label (coloured in pink) inserted at the top of the related package travel’s search result, which also includes the remaining time before the expiry of the Last Minute deals promotion.

Where a strike-through price is displayed on Dynamic Packaging search result page, the amount shown you can save refers to the variance between the flights and accommodation booked separately and by booking them together (as a package) in a single transaction on our website, including the Travel Extra Pack. Please note that our prices and availability is fully dynamic and the comparison is performed in real-time and subject to change at any time when reproduced. The saving displayed is not considering any other discount that may apply and excludes any locally payable taxes & fees. The percentage saving displayed is rounded down to the nearest full numeric value without decimal points, e.g 11.5% is displayed as 11% for illustrative purposes only.

Ancillary product/service prices 

We offer on our website several types of ancillary services whose prices include the cost of the service, our agency fees (where applicable) and the VAT according to the applicable legislations. In particular:

• Travel Insurance products: they are offered from a third-party provider and include our  priority assistance services. The price of the service is generally displayed per person and per route( or just per person, or per booking).

• Premium Service Package: this service, provided by us, allows you to save our handling fees for the post-sale assistance services (modification of travel dates, times, passenger names and/or destination; voluntary cancellation; correction of the name, birth date or ID document details in the booking. The price of the service is displayed per person and per route (or per booking).

• FullFlex: this is a product offered by us, which includes the following benefits: 1) an electronic voucher to the value of 90% of the price of the flight/train ticket originally purchased by the customer, which can be used on any of lastminute.com Group’s websites, as an alternative to the original ticket to request a new booking; 2) we will not charge any handling fees in the event of voluntary cancellation or change of booking processed using lastminute.com Group’s websites. The price of the service is displayed per person and per route.

• lm group Fares (Flexible and Premium): the lm group Fares are services offered directly by us and may be freely and voluntarily purchased by the customer in combination with his/her flight ticket. Any customer purchasing the Flexible lm group Fare can take advantage of the following post-sale assistance services offered by us: a. discount of the fee imposed by the airline in case of change of date and/or time of a flight; b. discount on our handling fees; c. Priority assistance. Any customer purchasing the Premium lm group Fare, in addition to the above post-sale assistance services will be entitled to cancel the purchased flight and to receive an electronic voucher for an amount equal to the 100% of the total price paid by the customer, including the taxes and charges set by the airline. This voucher may be used to book another flight on another lastminute.com Group website in place of the original flight ticket. The price of the service is displayed per person.

• Luggage: in case you are booking a flight or a package, during the booking flow you will be able to see which kind of luggage is included in the flight price offered by the airline. We’ll give you the possibility to add luggage by paying an additional fee set by the airline, as well as our agency fees for that activity, visible in the dedicated widget. The price of the service is displayed per person and per route.

• Blue Ribbon Bags: this is a baggage tracking and retrieval service offered by a third-party provider (Blue Ribbon Bags, LLC). The price of this Blue Ribbon Bags service is a fixed amount applied per passenger, which is shown in the related widget inserted in the booking flow.

• Car rental: the price of this ancillary service is provided directly by the third-party supplier and it’s shown per booking in the related widget inserted in the booking flow. 

• Transfer: the price of this ancillary service is provided directly by the third-party supplier and it’s shown per booking or round-trip per person in the related widget inserted in the booking flow..

• Seat selection: this service is provided by the airline and allows you to choose the seat on the plane instead of accepting the one assigned by default by the airline. The price shown is applied per seat per route and includes our agency fees. 

• Online Web Check-in: by selecting this service you won’t need to check-in online by yourself as we’ll do it on your behalf. The price of this ancillary service is displayed per person.

• Priority Boarding: where made available by the airline, by selecting this service your boarding process will be prioritised. The price of this ancillary service is set per passenger, and includes our agency fees.

• ParkingGo: the price of this paid parking service available in Italy is provided directly by the third-party supplier and it’s shown per car in the related widget inserted in the booking flow. 

• ViaMilano Parking (Milan Malpensa Airport): the price of this paid parking service available in Milano Malpensa airport is displayed per car.

Tour Operators’ travel packages 

We may offer on our websites pre-defined travel packages provided by tour operators partners, for which we act as intermediary agents. The prices of these travel packages are first shown “per person” in the results page, while before concluding the booking you will see in the checkout page the inclusive/total price of the travel package selected, that is inclusive of the VAT according to the applicable legislations as well as of our intermediation service fees and other applicable taxes. After choosing the destination and the dates of your travel, in the results page you will be able to choose among different accommodation proposals, where the price shown will be already inclusive of the flight component. In each travel package offer we may show the next departure date available for the rate shown, the hotel room and board rate included in the offer, as well as some generic information regarding the hotel features and position. In the detail page we display the hotel/accommodation details, the price conditions (i.e. what the price shown includes and does not include, depending on the travel package offer selected), as well as the flights the tour operator partner proposes for your trip (price included in the hotel rate displayed). 

Furthermore, where available, we may mark as “Special Deal” those offers communicated by our tour operators partners, where the price available for the dates chosen by you are cheaper than the highest prices applied for the same trip 15 days before or after your check-in date (the highest price is indicated by the strike-through price). In order to compare prices, in the above price comparison all the available details of the travel package offer selected by you are taken into account (e.g. hotel, departure airport, duration of the trip, hotel room and board type).. 

In some cases, where offered by the tour operator partners, we may show in the single travel package offer the information related to the possibility of getting a cashback voucher by booking that offer, to be used to purchase your next trip on our website. 

Cruises’ prices

On our websites, where available, after the cruise search made by you, we’ll show you the total price of the cruise for all the travellers included in the booking and it’s inclusive of the applicable taxes (such as the port charges and the VAT according to the applicable legislations) and the agency fees. In the detail page we may show different prices on the basis of the ship’s cabin type. 

We may also offer discounted cruise rates reserved to those customers who are logged-in to their “myClub” account. These discounted prices can be identified on our website through the   label shown at the top of the cruise offer and of the single rates shown per ship’s cabin type in the detail page.